SAR #12228

Forests once seemed so vast they were thought infinite.

The Price Is Right: Pepsi, Coke, Conagra, General Mills, DuPont and friends have scraped up $12 million to defeat a California proposition which would let customers know what they are buying. Wonder why they want to hide the truth about what’s in our food?

Shadow Boxing: Over the last five years, what have the EU and/or the ECB done that actually worked? Why would anyone think that the latest hollow promises are not hollow promises made by people who haven't got the wherewithal to make the promises good? Actually, no one, not even Germany, has got enough money to backstop the Eurozone's debts.

PPPPP: The Mitten's people scheduled a campaign stop for him at a Miami juice shop owned by a convicted cocaine trafficker.

For A Few Dollars More: Bet you thought the US was out of the TARP business, right? Nope, the US Treasury is still bailing out GM's former financing arm, Ally Financial, which continues to lose money – nearly a billion dollars in the second quarter alone. The cost to the taxpayers has been bumped up another $3.3 billion, while the auto giants continue to sell cars to those who cannot pay for them.

Only: Only 2% of Canadians do not believe in climate change. And they have better healthcare than we do, too.

Semantics: The National Republican Newspeak Committee has instructed GOP congressmen to use the words ‘strengthen,’ ‘secure,’ ‘save,’ ‘preserve, ‘protect' to replace the banned ‘entitlement reform,’ ‘privatization,’ ‘every option is on the table.’

Asked & Answered: Is the USDA a wholly-owned subsidiary of Monsanto? No, they share ownership rights with Cargill, ConAgra and DuPont.

Just Wondering: If the Republicans want to cut Medicare, why are they upset that Obama that Obama is cutting the cost of Medicare? Because the R's want to take the government's money (your taxes) and give it to the helathcare industry (incidentially, Bain owns a good bit of HCA), while Obama is trying to reduce payments and identify “best practices.” The Same But Different.

Always The Low Morals, Always: Walmart internal documents suggest that along with bribing Mexican politicians, the company's “questionable financial behavior” also included tax evasion and money laundering at no extra charge.

Rhetorical Question: “Must the poor go hungry just so the rich can drive?” Yes, of course. Why would you think otherwise?

Terminology: After a short decline, gasoline prices are moving up sharply – because (we're told) of rising crude oil costs and refinery problems. It seems likely that 2012 will end up being the costliest year ever for gasoline, especially if OPEC can get its members to keep to their quotas. Well, you say gasoline, I say recession.

The Parting Shot:

Desire.